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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255287">at the end of the list i found you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shewolf_of_highgarden/pseuds/Shewolf_of_highgarden'>Shewolf_of_highgarden</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Many Husbands, Wives, and Lives of Arya Stark [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire &amp; Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 + 1, Arranged Marriage, Arya kinda does it for herself, F/M, Ned and Cat try to arrange marriages, i just need more Trystane x Arya in my life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:33:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,089</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255287</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shewolf_of_highgarden/pseuds/Shewolf_of_highgarden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The five husbands Arya Stark almost had and the one she has</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arya Stark &amp; Catelyn Tully Stark, Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark, Trystane Martell/Arya Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Many Husbands, Wives, and Lives of Arya Stark [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1336354</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>74</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>at the end of the list i found you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi everyone, </p><p>Real quick i wanted to mention that there is talks of a first cousin relationship, but nothing comes of it. In ASoIaF we have quite a few couples who are first cousins (Joanna and Tywin, Rodrick and Lyarra, etc), so in this universe and the canon asoiaf universe that marriage between cousins is not uncommon.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>I </strong>
</p><p>The friendship between Howland Reed and Eddard Stark is one that rivaled even Ned and Robert. They had known each other as boys and while they never spent as much time together as Ned and Robert had, there was still a kinship there that created a strong bond. And as such the topic of betrothals came up. Ned had a daughter and Howland a son.</p><p>Jojen is the one to put the conversation to an end. Arya was a fine northern girl, but the gods would be angry if the two wed. Their children would bring about the Doom of Westeros and the Wall would fall and the Children of the Forest would seek their revenge upon the children of the men who forced them into hiding. None of it was personal, it was just the will of the gods.</p><p>Ned would have been insulted on behalf of her daughter if the boy had not stood before him and said it to him. The boy looked so serious that Ned couldn’t help to believe it. And in his heart of hearts, something he would tell no one else, Jojen Reed creeped him out. He felt no great loss by not calling him good son.</p><p>
  <strong>II </strong>
</p><p>A scroll from house Frey is sent to Hoster Tully, proposing a match between some no-name Frey grandchildren (why were there so many anyway?) and Arya Stark. Surely if Hoster wrote his daughter she would agree to the match and convince her husband of it.</p><p>Hoster throws the insult of a scroll into the fire, says a prayer to the old gods and the new that Walder Frey would choke sooner than later, and never thinks of it again.</p><p>
  <strong>III </strong>
</p><p>In theory, it is a perfect match. Robyn and Arya are of an age and great lineage. It was a match that would secure the hold of House Tully’s bloodline on the Vale.</p><p>Arya ends the talks this time, and even then, with Lysa the talks were tentative at best. The way she spoke it sounded as if a betrothal between Robyn and Arya would be a favor <em>to Arya</em>. Catelyn loved her sister, but it took both the Blackfish and Ned to stop her from telling Lysa every little thing that was wrong with her son.</p><p>It officially ended when Arya came to her father one night and told him quite seriously that if they forced her to wed Robyn, she would make <em>him </em>fly through the Moon Door. Ned knew his daughter well enough to know she would make good on that promise.</p><p>
  <strong>IV </strong>
</p><p>“We can still join our houses, Ned, this is just a hiccup.”</p><p>“Margaery Tyrell is with child. Joffrey must wed her or face the wrath of House Tyrell. And I could never ask it of Sansa, it is an insult to her.”</p><p>“We have other children! I’ve another son and you’ve another daughter.”</p><p>“No, Robert.”</p><p>It’s for the best really, even if Robert is furious. Especially for Tommen. Should the boy wed Arya, between his wife and his mother he would never know peace.</p><p>
  <strong>V </strong>
</p><p>If anyone had bothered to ask Arya, she could have told them that she and Edric Dayne would never wed. So far, he was the only boy she would even consider, but it would never work. Ned was determined to follow in his Uncle Arthur’s footsteps and become a member of the King's Guard. Ned will make a good Sword of the Morning. While they spend time together since they do like each other, Ned spends most of his time these days with Beric. A tourney is to be held in honor of Joffrey Baratheon’s first child. Ned planned to ride and gain his station as the knights before he had.</p><p>Maybe Father had mentioned something, but Arya did not give him a clear answer. She had no plans to return to the Capital any time soon. Starfall was amazing – a bit too hot, but nothing was perfect – and she loved being able to ride and use Needle as she pleased.</p><p>“I will not leave you here all alone, but I shall not force you to come,” Allyria told her when Arya insisted, she had seen enough tourneys during her time in the capital.  </p><p>“You needn’t stay. I’ll be fine,”</p><p>“I am going, but I will write Doran. I’m sure you will be a welcomed guest at the Water Gardens.”</p><p>Allyria laughed at the face Arya pulled.</p><p>“You will like it there; it is cooler than here and there are always people around. I am sure one of the younger Sandsnakes will teach you to use a spear or a whip.”</p><p>…</p><p>Edric Dayne does not win the tourney, but he rides well. He returns to Starfall determined to gain his glory at the next one.</p><p>Allyria is right and Arya loves the Water Gardens. She goes riding with the younger Sand Snakes and plays with the children at the pools. Trystane Martell starts to teach her to use a spear and she starts to teach him about Water Dancing.</p><p>Arya will not wed Edric Dayne, but she will stay in Dorne.</p><p>
  <strong>The One she Has </strong>
</p><p>The match is one that Cat had never really considered.</p><p>When Ned had agreed to the marriage between Arya and Prince Trystane, Cat had her reservations. In fact, when Ned had first told her of his plan, she was tempted to refuse him, to tell him to find another match. The North remembered and so did Dorne. The Rebellion had not been so long ago and both families had lost so much. It did not help matters that Arya, unlike her siblings, looked every bit a member of House Stark. Had she had more Tully in her look, Cat may have felt a bit more comfortable. It did not help that Sunspear was on the other side of the country from Winterfell. Cat did not want her daughter all alone in a nest full of vipers.</p><p>She need not have worried so much.</p><p>Arya thrives in Dorne.</p><p>In the days leading up to the wedding, Arya tells her mother stories of the younger Sand Snakes who she is often seen with and proudly shows her the bruises she has gained from trying to learn how to use a spear. She introduces her mother to all of the children of the Water Gardens, pointing to each and telling Cat their name and some little story about them. She gushes over the new Sandsteed that Trystane had given her as an engagement present, a gift that Arya claims is more paying off the debt of a lost bet than an actual present. And at every feast held (and though this is the wedding of a third child, it is still a royal one so there are many) Cat gets to watch her daughter dance. While Arya has been a good dancer since going to King’s Landing, a talent that surprised Cat when she first saw, she is even better in Dorne and scarcely lets her feet rest, more than happy to spin in the arms of every man or woman there.</p><p>On her wedding day, Arya is far cheerier than Cat had ever expected. She is not excited as Sansa had been on her wedding day (to be honest Cat thinks few ever could be that excited), but there are no tears or growls or icy silence. The way she chews her lip shows her nerves, but other than that there are no tells. Arya laughs at the bawdy jokes the women of her new family make (her now golden skin, does not hide her). She nibbles on dates and figs and sweetmeats. She fidgets as a maid does her hair, but that has more to do with Arya’s general temperament than the actual wedding.</p><p>The ceremonies, one in the Sept and one in front of a Weirwood sapling that had made a long trip courtesy of Rickon and Jojen, go well. Catelyn admits, though, that she would have preferred a bit more solemnity. Neither the bride nor the groom seems terribly serious while saying their vows, too busy throwing each other nervous smiles as if what they are saying is funny. Mayhap it is. Mayhap there is some inside joke between them that no others know. The idea of her Arya having inside jokes with her husband makes Catelyn feel all of her two and forty years. Her summer babes are suddenly no longer babes.</p><p>Arya, her first babe of summer, stands in front of a Septon, her hand being bound to her husband’s by a golden sash. Bran, sweet as summer, stands next to Ned. When they make their way from the Sept to the feast is sure to be told “you are next” with a knowing grin by every married man or woman present. They are not wrong. Right before leaving for Sunspear, Ned agreed to Bran’s betrothal to Shireen Baratheon. A move which surprised no one as at the last tourney in King’s Landing Bran crowned the girl Queen of Love and Beauty.</p><p>As they move from the Sept to the feast, Bran is stopped by person after person. As is Cat. Women come beside her and congratulate her on marrying off both of her daughters to fine matches, glee mixing with sympathy in some of the women’s eyes. Mayhap this transition is easier for Cat since Arya left Winterfell so young. Arya has spent more time in the South than the North at this point. She left for court at nine and stayed there until she was five and ten and sent to Starfall to keep Lady Allyria company. Cat feels a squeezing in her heart, a deep bitterness of not getting to spend more time with her daughters. Cat had brought Rickon to join his siblings in King’s Landing the year after Robb wed Wylla Manderly and not long after Sansa wed Brynden Blackwood and Arya left for Starfall.</p><p>Time has never been on Cat’s side.</p><p>“They are a fine match,” Ned says, looking to where the bride and groom sit.  </p><p>Arya is laughing at something Trystane has said, hand trying to stop the wine from spurting out of her mouth and on to her white summer silk gown. They turn to look at one of the young men near the table who is giving some kind of a toast, one of the few that will be unslurred, Cat cannot hear what is said but it illicit calls to those sitting around him and Arya flicks a fig at his head making her mother cringe but her husband remains smiling.</p><p>It is unlike the wedding she and Ned had. Theirs had been a rushed affair on the edges of winter in the sept of Riverrun. The feast had been small but there had been dancing and smiling. Or at least as much as there could be considering the weight of the dead lingering over them. Still, her new husband had smiled at her and had been gentle with her, and moons later Robb came into the world in a room in Riverrun. While Cat does not look back at her wedding night with regret, she is glad that her children have had better ones. The fear of war did not loom on them. Tomorrow Trystane would not ride off leaving his new wife behind to fight. Tonight, there would be dancing and mummers and singers.</p><p>“It was a fine idea.”</p><p>“It was Arya’s.”</p><p>“For true?” Cat asked shocked.</p><p>“Aye,’ Ned said with a nod, ‘She said she would wed Trystane if she must wed. I can see why; she can be freer here than most places.”</p><p>“I did not think it a love match.”</p><p>“It’s not. From all I have heard they are good friends. Oberyn tells me that Trystane even plans to give her a spear for a wedding present. I believe he means that.”</p><p>And in that way this wedding was also different from the one that Cat had, different from the one that even Sansa had. Tonight, when Arya goes to her wedding bed she is not going to a stranger. She will not be left alone with strangers when her family returns to the Crownlands and the North. She will stay with a man who is her friend. A friend, who judging by the way they looked at each other when the other wasn’t looking, could be more than that.</p><p>And Cat could not think of a better match.</p>
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